Shit. Is this it?
“What? You want a massage next, buddy?” Cole offers nonchalantly.
Benson’s suspicion clears and he snorts. “Yeah, and I’ll take a beer after you work me over. It’s my turn to stand around looking pretty. Here, Eve, you can take over painting.”
Cole chuckles. “The counter’s in, the floor’s done, painting in progress. What’s next?”
“I made some resin knobs to upgrade the cabinet hardware with. They’re in my apartment.”
I walk out to get them. Cole joins me. He snags my wrist once we’re behind the camper, tugging me out of sight.
“What are you doing?” I whisper.
He answers by checking our surroundings before taking me by the waist to press me against the siding with a heart-stopping grin. Then he steals a kiss. It’s slow, torturous, and over way too soon.
I chase him when he pulls back. His handsome green eyes crinkle.
“Had to kiss you or I’d go crazy,” he murmurs. “Needed a dose of you to recharge me.”
I bite my lip around a smile. “We already cut it close with Benson right there. You’re going to get us caught.”
“Nah.”
When he looks at me like I’m the most important person in the world, it’s difficult to catch my breath. We gaze at each other, the world falling away outside of our stolen moment.
“Anyone see where Cole went?” Benson calls from the other side of the camper.
Reality sets back in. My eyes widen. I push at Cole’s chest. He doesn’t budge.
“I think he went inside,” Jess says.
Cole grins and claims another short kiss, kneading my waist. Then he’s gone, circling the camper.
I slump against it, laying a hand over my racing heart until I calm down. This man. I swear he’ll be the end of me.
Even though it’s disappointing that we’re still keeping our relationship hidden after what happened last month at the lake, we’re happy. The looming possibility of my brother and dad finding out about us and the potential fallout from that isn’t enough to make me walk away from this.
My heart is firmly tied to his.
I wait a few more moments before coming out of hiding to retrieve the knobs. When I return, Dad and Mr. Boucher have pulled up with provisions from the bar.
A few other cars arrive with Heston U’s hockey players. Their summer training camp started this week. They lope up the driveway messing around with each other. Theo, Easton, and Cameron I recognize. The beach blond guy is a new face on the team this season.
“Hey guys,” I say.
“Hey yourself,” the freshman player replies with a wink.
“Easy, rookie. Coach’s daughter is off-limits and about a million miles out of your league,” Theo warns. “This is Noah.”
I wave. “Hi. What are you doing here?”
“Coach Kincaid roped us into helping yesterday,” Easton says.
“How?”
Theo smirks, ruffling Cameron’s hair when he pulls his hat off to flip it around. “Lost a shootout against him. He bet us all he could get more in than us.”
“And I did. Still got it,” Cole says when he comes over to stand beside me. “Consider it specialized training as part of camp.”
